Amid Change, Email Remains a Constant

In the world of digital marketing there always seems to be a new flavor of the month. And while companies must stay tuned to the possibilities of something new becoming the next Twitter, retargeting technology, or paid search; more often than not new trends tend to surface as gimmicks and fade into obscurity.

Not email.

Email, the tried and true, brick and mortar communication staple, has held its own for 4 decades, and is here to stay. Without it, could the workforce even conduct business just for a day? Probably not.

I am not here to talk about the invention of email or it’s obvious importance in general, but rather to highlight why it is still standing strong, and why it will continue to do so.

First, there are some strong pros to its marketing capacity…

• Low cost (highest ROI of marketing tools and only a splinter of the budget)
• Important CRM data can be collected with signups (secondary benefits)
• Cross-promotion for other channels (audience development)
• Directly targeted and custom tailored messaging (personalization skyrockets conversion)
• Information rich (embed promotion codes and other direct response implications are why more conversion can be attributed to email)

…that outweighs the cons:

• Overcrowded inboxes due to modern life realities.
• Consumers forget why or who they signed up for and may mark you as spam (only faced as a marketer who isn’t creating value for their audience)
• Building your database can take some time (what doesn’t)

Email, embedded with links, is a portal to all of your company’s web presence. Once an email is clicked through, the consumer process begins – which is the goal of all marketing and advertising efforts.

• Also important, email is relevant across all generations. Approximately 85% of all Americans (input link below87% of all Americans have at least one email address
• 15% of all internet users use Twitter, and only 15% of that (aged 50+).

Having been a staple of modern life for decades, users find comfort with email as a single place to engage in both business and personal endeavors without the hassle of having to “change channels. “

So, don’t sleep on email. It’s here to stay. Invest some resources into providing utility for you audience and you will forget better relationships, sell more, and stay out of the junk folder.